Battlefield Park Visitor Center Will Display Commissioned Forensic Artwork
Lake George, NY – The Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance will unveil its newest acquisition, the composite model of a 1st Pennsylvania Battalion soldier such as those reinterred this spring at the Battlefield Park’s Repose of the Fallen memorial, in the park’s Visitor Center on Tuesday, July 21 at 11:00 AM.
The Visitor Center is located on the bottom floor (lakeside entrance) of 75 Fort George Road, Lake George, across the road from the Repose memorial.
Since the memorial’s dedication on May 22, hundreds of visitors have streamed into the site to pay their respects to the 44 soldiers and others associated with the Continental Army whose remains are now permanently encased there in newly installed columbaria. Those reinterred are believed to have perished from smallpox in 1776 at the army’s general hospital that extended from today’s Lake George Battlefield Park westward to the area of Fort William Henry.
The soldier model is the second created for the Repose of the Fallen project by forensic artist Jenny Kenyon of Stafford, Virginia. The initial composite was commissioned by the New York State Museum and is not currently on public display.
Working with anthropologists from the State Museum, Ms. Kenyon used a 3D print of a nearly complete skull found among the remains to build the facial approximation. She utilized anatomical markers and tissue depth information to create the shape of the face and its distinctive features. Ms. Kenyon sculpted in oil-based clay, then scanned the piece and processed files for the 3D print. After the print was completed, she painted the facial sculpture with acrylic paint, and attached eyelashes and leather for the hair tie and toggle shirt closure.
Costs for the model and the display cases being used in presenting this new exhibit are being underwritten by longtime Alliance members Rosemary and Frank Pusateri of Cleverdale. Battlefield Park Alliance President John DiNuzzo thanks the Pusateris for their ongoing support and programmatic suggestions: “Rosemary and Frank regularly reach out to us with common sense ideas and then roll up their sleeves to help make them happen. In this case, Frank contacted me with a ‘Need anything?’ query just as the State Museum’s model was being developed, and our goal to have a second model displayed at Lake George was arranged fairly quickly.”
Lake George Town Supervisor Vinnie Crocitto, Jr. recognizes the impact the reinterment and related initiatives are having in the community. “The Town is extremely pleased to have led the Repose of the Fallen project. We’re so happy that our friends at the Battlefield Park Alliance are continuing to keep the project in the public’s mind through the creation of this exhibit for its Visitor Center. It will be a great thing for people to visit the Repose site and then walk across the street to the VC and learn more about those Patriots who gave their lives for the freedoms and liberties that we cherish today.”
Mark Silo, who chairs the Alliance Visitor Center Curation Committee, notes the significance of this addition: “Our museum will be greatly enhanced by this genuine likeness of one of the Revolutionary patriots who passed through Lake George on his way to the fight in Quebec and returned here to draw his last breath. His mortal remains lie just a few steps away at the Repose of the Fallen memorial, and the presence of his likeness in our center will honor him and all those who served in the creation of our country.”
The Lake George Battlefield Park Visitor Center is open Thursday through Monday each week in the summer from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. It will also remain open for the day on (Tuesday) July 21 after the unveiling ceremony.
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About the Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance: The Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance is a not-for-profit organization of volunteers who have an abiding interest in the Lake George Region’s critical role in the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. The Alliance manages the Battlefield Park’s Visitor Center and sponsors events throughout the year that educate the public about the site and its unique history. It is also the steward for the Battlefield Park’s iconic memorials, including the recently dedicated “Repose of the Fallen” reburial site of 44 Continental Army personnel who perished at Lake George in 1776, and three refurbished bronze sculptures that depict important moments in the region’s history. For more information, visit www.lakegeorgebattlefield.org.